Data reference

You can open the data reference from:

The Metabase sidebar > Browse data > Learn about our data.
Hovering over a table in the data browser and clicking on the book icon that appears.
The native/SQL > Book icon.

Browse data reference

The data reference is a collection of pages organized by database, then tables in that database (the same structure you use to pick data). The data reference section is a great place to find information about the data types of columns in your data.

Data reference in the native editor

Sometimes when you’re writing a query, you might forget the exact names of different tables or columns, or which table contains what. That’s where the Data reference comes in handy.

To bring up the data reference panel in the native/SQL editor, click on the open book icon.

This panel lists all the databases you have access to, and the models and tables, and the fields inside of them.

Data reference sidebar

Click on the model or table you would like to explore further to see a description of it and a list of all the columns it has. Each table or column will only contain a description if your admin wrote something in the Table Metadata section of the Admin Panel.

If you click on a column you’re interested in, you’ll see a description of its contents, as well as a list of sample values for columns that don’t have a huge number of distinct values.

Connections

In the data reference sidebar, under Connections, you can find a list of table relationships (defined by foreign keys).

If a foreign key relationship exists in your database, but doesn’t show up in your Metabase, your Metabase admin will need to update your Metabase Table Metadata.